Lev: Pete Carroll's Seahawks are built to last

The youthful, 2-0 Seahawks have brought a smile to Pete Carroll's face early this season. ELAINE THOMPSON, AP

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RENTON, Wash. – The cornerback who erased Anquan Boldin was a fifth-round draft pick who’s in his third season. The linebacker who forced a holding call in the end zone for a safety was a seventh-round pick who’s also in his third year. The fullback who helped Marshawn Lynch rush for 98 yards and two touchdowns was signed off the street to the practice squad. He’s in his second season.

Using an ideology he learned long ago from the franchise he just crushed, Pete Carroll has transformed the Seattle Seahawks into one of the NFL’s best – and youngest – teams. Carroll and GM John Schneider have mined the depths of the draft and scoured every possible talent source to assemble a roster that’s built to last.

The Seahawks aren’t the only team to have unearthed late-round gems such as shutdown corner Richard Sherman (Stanford, class of 2011) and speedy linebacker Malcolm Smith (USC, ’11). They aren’t the only organization to find treasure in a player who’d been cast away (undrafted fullback Derrick Coleman). They just seem to be better than most at both.

Is it luck? Do they see things in certain players that other teams don’t? What’s your deal, Pete?

Sitting on a couch in his corner office at the team facility overlooking Lake Washington, the former USC coach explained how he and Schneider go about identifying future Seahawks. The methodology goes back to Carroll’s days as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator in the mid-1990s, the tail end of the dynasty built by John McVay and Bill Walsh.

“They’d pick guys out with qualities they really cherish, and then they’d make them come to the front, as opposed to the biggest, fastest, strongest guys,” Carroll said Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Seattle spanked San Francisco, 29-3.

“Our guys are big, fast and strong too, but we’re looking for guys with unique qualities (so) we can build a role for them on our team. They may not necessarily be attractive to other coaches and other GMs.”

Take Sherman and the rest of the Seahawks’ stellar defensive backfield. Carroll wanted big cornerbacks who could maul receivers at the line of scrimmage. The 6-foot-3 Sherman, a converted wide receiver, fit that description. So did 6-4 Brandon Browner, an undrafted free agent from Oregon State in 2005 who came to Seattle after a four-year stint in the CFL.

The year before they drafted Sherman and signed Browner, the Seahawks selected safeties Earl Thomas, a classic back-end center fielder, and Kam Chancellor, who’s built like a linebacker (6-2, 232). Thomas is the only one among the four selected in the first round. Walter Thurmond, who subbed for Browner (hamstring) the first two weeks, was a fourth-round pick.

Like most of the rest of the Seahawks, the defensive backs are young. With Browner, 29, on the sideline, the elder statesman is Thurmond, who turned 26 in August. As of Week 2, Seattle had the fifth-youngest roster in the NFL, with an average age of 25 years, 362 days. The four teams with younger rosters – St. Louis, Cleveland, Jacksonville and Buffalo – are in some stage of rebuilding. Seattle is among a handful of Super Bowl favorites.

Schneider – who at 42 is among the league’s youngest general managers – came to Seattle from Green Bay, where he assisted Ted Thompson, one of the NFL’s staunchest believers in building through the draft. Schneider’s philosophy jibed with his coach’s beliefs. Carroll always was willing to play freshmen at USC if their ability warranted it.

“Most coaches don’t want to play young guys. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. It’s how you do it,” Carroll said.

“If you play young guys properly and utilize them for what they can do instead of trying to fit them into somebody else’s mold, they can perform for you.”

Fullbacks in Carroll’s system need to be smart and versatile and capable of playing on special teams. It helps to have experience as a halfback to identify defensive fronts and blocking angles.

Enter Coleman, whom the Seahawks signed to their practice squad in December 2012. Coleman played running back and linebacker at Troy High. He gained 1,780 yards and scored 17 touchdowns as a halfback at UCLA. He’s a demon on special teams.

“I tried to make him a fullback when he was coming out of Troy … and he didn’t want to do it,” Carroll said. “We got him this time around.”

Coleman’s circumstances had changed. Carroll’s team-building principles remained the same.

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